In imaging a person as an object for taking a portrait photo or a photo for identification or attestation, in e.g. a photo studio, the imaging is carried out as the arranging position of a lighting device used for illuminating the object, or the orientation of the object imaging by a camera equipment as an imaging apparatus, is adjusted for improving the appearance of the object.
This adjustment is carried out based on the technique or know-how acquired through practice in a photo studio. Hence, the adjustment may vary from one photo studio to another. The photo produced in the photo studio is printed on a photographic paper sheet by e.g. a developing unit for use as a portrait photo or a photo for identification.
In the photo studio, variegated lighting devices or camera equipment for producing a good-looking photo, are needed, while variegated techniques or know-how are needed for producing a photo, such as a method used for illuminating an object or the imaging direction used for capturing an image.
In particular, there are needed diverse techniques or know-how in illumination, such as angle, height, difference in lightness of illumination on the left and right sides, that is, the illumination difference. Thus, the shading on the object may be varied by illumination adjustment, thus possibly influencing the finish of the photo.
In the conventional imaging technique, the object is illuminated by an illuminating device, such as stroboscopic device, ancillary to the photographic device, light is illuminated from the front side of the object, the shade of the object is eliminated and only a flat photo devoid of depth is produced.
In the flat photo, the face of the photo captured is insipid and the forehead looks broad, so that the photo when seen by the person as the object cannot be said to be a good-looking photo. In particular, when the person as the object is a female, she desires that her cheek looks slim. The female tends to be more anxious than the male about how she looks in the photo.
On the other hand, the person as an object is sensitive to his/her face in the photo and becomes aware of the slightest difference in the manner how he/she comes out in the photo, even though such difference may not be noticed by others.
There is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2001-218020 a technique in which image processing is carried out by e.g. a computer, without direct printing a photo on the photographic paper sheet, with a view to improving the appearance of the photo without relying on the above know-how, especially when the object is a female. The technique disclosed in this Publication performs image processing for making up the face of the person as the object and is not up to the requirement for photographing so that the cheek of the object will look slim.